Men walk from North Ridgeville to South Amherst for charity (with video)

MORNING JOURNAL/JASON HENRYEric Utrecht and Michael Goerlich, of Raven Concealment Systems, pose for as they near the end of a charity walk from North Ridgeville to the entrance of Tough Mudder in South Amherst.

SOUTH AMHERST-- A black POW/MIA military flag flapped in the wind above Eric "Trek" Utrecht as he and Michael Goerlich walked along SR 113 in South Amherst yesterday afternoon.

Both men stepped out of North Ridgeville's Raven Concealment Systems, which Goerlich owns, about 8:45 a.m. yesterday to begin a charity walk to the entrance of the Tough Mudder competition.

By about 1:30 p.m., they neared their destination.

"It started off as just a challenge to myself to see if I could do a walk and then do the Tough Mudder the next day," Utrecht said. "But we morphed it in to a fundraiser to benefit not only the national charity of the Wounded Warrior Project, but also a local charity in Ohio with the Patriot Guard Riders."

Advertisement

While it is only 13 miles from North Ridgeville to South Amherst by car, the trek was about 17 miles by foot because of some of the direct roads don't allow pedestrians, Utrecht said.

The Wounded Warrior Project is a national charity that assists injured soldiers through programs and services. Tough Mudder helps support the project by encouraging mudders to raise money for it.

The Patriot Guard Riders of Ohio is a group, typically made up of motorcyclists, who attend funerals for fallen soldiers, firefighters and police officers.

Between the walk and their Tough Mudder fundraising, Utrecht said about $1,500 had been raised. Most of the money came from Raven Concealment Systems' customers.

"We've had a lot of our customers send in checks to benefit both charities, which has been really great," he said.

Utrecht and two other company employees will be competing in Tough Mudder. Utrecht previously ran the event in Pennsylvania.

He didn't expect the walk to set him back any for his run today.

"I'll be sore, but I should have no problem doing the Tough Mudder," he said. "Then Sunday, I'll be non-ambulatory, so I plan on taking advantage of that and sleeping."

Goerlich said he wouldn't be doing Tough Mudder, so he decided to participate in the walk for charity.

"As the owner of the company, I felt like since some of my employees are able to do the event, it is the least I can do to come out and hike the distance," he said. "I'm hoping it doesn't destroy some of my key employees. I'm worried we might have some attendance issues Monday, but I'm willing to deal with the outage because it is for a good cause."

Utrecht, an Air Force veteran, said he chose to carry the POW/MIA flag as a reminder of the soldiers who have not made it home. Honks and salutes of support followed the pair for much of their walk, he said.

"There's still families waiting to find out the status of their loved ones," he said. "It is important that they are not forgotten."